Tania in China

Mon, Nov 6: Beijing or Chicago?

I wake up sore this morning. Very, very sore. I assume my legs are sore from climbing all those steps on the Great Wall yesterday, and my shoulders are sore from my fall. A shower seems to loosen things up a bit, and I don't have trouble getting the shower to go this morning - maybe somebody fixed it in the past couple of days? Also the smell in the bathroom seems to be gone, even without the washcloth over the drain. I don't know if maybe the room had just sat for a while, and the flow of water from me cleared everything out or not...

I just have some bread and cheese for breakfast, and realize how good I have things in Nanjing - in Nanjing the bagette is fluffy on the inside and crusty on the outside - the Beijing one is all dense and doughy. I am definitely going to be paying closer attention to the reviews when I book my next hotel.

I had thought overnight, and decide to head to Tiananmen Square which should be open now, then go back to Wufangjing to do some more Christmas shopping, then do the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. Those plans hold until I exit the subway onto Tiananmen Square. It is cold! The temperature wouldn't be so bad with the sun out, but it is the wind! Chicago isn't the windy city - Beijing is! It is blowing constantly at at least 30 mph, and cuts right through you. I run around and take a few pictures, then head back down into the subway to go to the nice warm stores for some shopping.

I stop for a Starbucks to warm up before shopping, then spend the next 2 hours doing a good deal of shopping. I am really wondering how I am going to fit everything in my suitcases! It wouldn't be so back if so many things didn't come in such nice boxes - the boxes take up a lot more room. My fingers are about to fall off from the packages and the cold when I get back to the hotel, and I just have to lie down for a little while to catch my breath! I have decided that the entirely-outdoor Temple of Heaven is going to have to be struck from the schedule today - I just don't have the right clothes with me to deal with the cold. I think about the zoo, but it looks like it is a decent walk from the subway station, and since I have to leave for the airport in 3 hours, I am worried I won't have time. Finally I decide to go see Mao Zedong's corpse in his memorial, and see if it is any warmer on Tiananmen Square.
I arrive at the memorial, and lo and behold! It is not open on Mondays! It is also only open in the mornings the other days, so I lost out all the way around.
I finally brave the cold and walk around the whole square.

You can notice how strong the winds were from looking at the flags.

One of the big attractions on the square were these giant statues of the 5 "friendlies (fuwa)", the mascots of the Beijing Olympics. The blue one is a fish, black is a panda, red is the Olympic flame, yellow is a Tibetan antelope, and green is a swallow.
It is sort-of "Hello, Kitty" goes to the Olympics. They are all over the city, and there are dolls and logo merchandise being sold everywhere. By the time I have walked the length of the square I have had it, so decide to head back to the food court in the mall for lunch. I look around a bit, but end up at "Bread World", where they make all different kinds of ethnic bread products, and it is self serve for what you would like for lunch. It was cheap, and the roll with ham and black sesame seed was especially good. I take my last subway ride back to the hoteland play Tetris fitting all my stuff in my bags, and after quite a bit of strategizing am all packed and checked out and in a cab.

I have left myself 2 hours before my flight, and since the ride took less than a half hour to get to the hotel, I think I am going to have time to do a bit of shopping at the airport before I leave. Boy, am I wrong. Everything is going fine until we reach the entrance to the Airport Expressway and find it closed! At 4pm on a Monday! Unless there was an accident, that would never happen in the US! We have to drive far north out of our way, then cut back down to the back entrance of the airport. Obviously everybody else has to do the same thing, so the back route into the airport is at a stand-still. It takes us at least 30 minutes to go the last mile, and I am starting to worry about missing my flight. It is only 40 minutes before takeoff when I finally reach the checkin desk, and of course I pick the line where the 3 guys in front of me are going to have all kinds of luggage issues! I finally get my boarding pass and run to the gate, and find that this flight is right on time - it couldn't be this flight that was 2 hours late! We are also being bussed out to the plane, so I don't even stop as I walk through the gate onto the bus.

I notice I am sitting in seat 28B and am dissappointed - I am in a middle seat. This plane must be a lot fuller than the one to Beijing. It takes about 10 minutes for the bus to finally take off, and we approach the plane and I happen to be the first person off the bus and on the plane. I am really suprised to find out that this is a 767 with an international configuration, which means I don't have a middle seat at all! The seats are configured 2-3-2 in coach. There are a bunch of people already on the plane, so this must have been a stop in a direct flight, I am sitting next to a girl, but after the boarding doors close I see that the back 5 rows are empty, so I move back. What luxury to have a whole row to yourself! I settle in, move my carryon into the seat next to me, and relax. We are again served a full meal on the plane - hot chicken pieces with rice and cabbage, a salad, roll, muffin, sealed cup of water, and a little package of pickled vegetables that were very good on top of the salad. They gave us Thousand Island dressing, so it is not just an American dressing! By the time we have eaten and had 2 drink services itis time to land and I am happy.

Luggage takes a bit longer to arrive this time, but not too bad, and again my bag is towards the beginning, so I head out to the taxi line. Two people come up to me asking if I need a taxi, and I know better than to say yes, but my resistance was low and I went with one of them. Never again. He packed me in his cab, then disappeared for 5 minutes until he came back with 2 women. At first I thought they were extra fares, but now I think they were teaching him how to drive the taxi! He really didn't have any idea where he was going, we were off on side streets for a while instead of the Airport Expressway, and he almost missed several exits! Also, the meter blacked out about half way through the ride! He tried to tell me that he would just charge me 200 RMB for the trip, but I have now taken two trips that both cost exactly 150 RMB, so that is what I paid him. Never again. From now on I don't even hear those other people - I only take a cab out of the taxi line.

When checking in I am finally able to convince the front desk that I am Platinum with Starwood (amenities are only from Platinum. Platinum? Oh, let me give you the platinum upgrade!), and I think he tried to make things up to me for not upgrading me before because I am put in a huge suite! I have a living room, dining room, bedroom with flat screen tv, powder room, bathroom with upgraded towels and amenities, big fluffy terrycloth robes (that are only $25 if I want to take one! I think I will - in an American hotel, they would be at least $80), and many, many windows! I was getting tired walking back and forth in my suite while unpacking - it was too far! Of course this is the time that I am only going to be in this room for 4 days - darn! I also think I now get access to the lounge on the 39th floor, but can't check until tomorrow since it is already closed. I fall asleep much happier with my room than I was the last time I checked in to this hotel!

posted by Tania @ 4:09 PM